Democracy, Terrorism, change for the better, principles, rules of the game. These are all words which describe the main subjects which the Political world is busy with. The ways of introducing the meaning of these words differ depending on the side which is explaining them.
Although Globalization and many other elements invested in making the world smaller and created a kind of a permanent connection between its states, still great differences can be noticed in explaining several issues between the West and the East. Currently, the West leaded by the United States of America claims to have a main goal which is to change the world into a better place by bringing democracy into its states, ending terrorism, and defining rules and laws in dealing with every incident which a state may face.
The standards which were made for this goal are built on Western ideas and thoughts about democracy, terrorism, and modern politics. Democracy for example is measured in the third world countries by depending on the meaning which the West gives for Democracy. In certain situations new conditions are added to the original explanation of Democracy. Larry Diamond, who wrote a lot about Democracy, studies several measures for understanding the lack of Democracy in the Arab World.
Diamond said that past colonialism, religion, and culture are not basic elements that invest in the lack of democracy. Diamond says Democracy means the ability of one people to go to elections and choose those who lead and govern them. However, he added that movements or parties who do not accept to agree on denying the use of violence and commit to what the International law and community ask for must not be given the right to participate in the Democratic process.
On the other side, Diamond criticized Iran and said that Democracy does not exist in its system; according to him the way of choosing who to participate in Iranian elections and who is to be banned is not democratic at all. However, this contradicts with what he said before about certain conditions which must be considered even in a Democratic process.
The West looks on the Middle East and the Arab world through Western eyes. Therefore, the solutions which are used to try to improve the situation in the Arab world do not work very well. The American war on Iraq was supposed to bring a better community, democracy, security and freedom. The result was hundreds of thousands of dead people and more fear from expressing any kind of a political opinion.
Colonialism still exists in the Arab world although it ended physically; American army bases are still located through the Arab World, and the Arab economy completely depend on the West. There is no freedom inside the Arab countries and the Arab governmental system is affected by foreign interference in taking decisions. Another important element which affects on the issue of Democracy in the Arab world is the Israeli Arab conflict. The Arab governments did not affect truly in ending the conflict and this made the people believe that even with the existence of elected Arab governments according to American and Western standards, this will not help in ending the conflict. This affected on making the opposition stronger within the Arab world and this created a new book with new standards about democracy, principles, ways of ending conflicts, and many other issues.
The difference in applying democracy by the West depending on the country discussed made the situation more complicated; the example which Diamond gave about the importance of putting certain conditions on who to participate in a democratic process makes the Iranian way of electing a president similar. Once one side has the right to put conditions then the other sides will ask for the same and by doing so, Democracy vanishes.
Former President Bush use of Democracy as a claim to start a war on Iraq, interfering within the Palestinian and many other Arab countries internal situation made the Arabs think about a new Democracy which differs from the Western.
The difference in the Political thought, the existence of the Israeli Arab conflict, and the unsteadiness within the Arab countries make it impossible to measure Democracy according to standards which are used to measure it in countries which are independent and strong in their economy. Arab countries are still living by relying on other countries and powers in the world.
This difference in Democracy and the difference in defining terrorism as terrorism or use of force as a way to return occupied lands make it harder to reach an understanding. Putting conditions before starting to talk with the other side does not mean negotiating but instead obliging certain standards by force.
The only choice which two disagreeing sides have to reach an agreement is by being ready to change a little in what they already considered standards and law. Without being ready to make this change, it will never be possible to really change.

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad

A Palestinian-Arab living in East Jerusalem, Ziad graduated from College Des Freres in Jerusalem in 2003. Ziad finished his major in International Relations and English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ziad is a former President of the Watan student movement at the university. He is interested in Middle Eastern political issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Founder of the Middle East Post and MEL (Middle East Future Leadership Network), he represents Palestinian youth at several international conferences.

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